


Gift

by xanithofdragons



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Birthday Presents, Gen, Kid Fic, posted unchanged, really old fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-02-28
Updated: 2008-02-28
Packaged: 2018-10-17 02:52:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10584903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xanithofdragons/pseuds/xanithofdragons
Summary: Peony decides to give his friend Jade a birthday present.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this as a birthday present for a friend back in 2008. I set the publication date to the day I emailed it to him. I would like the record to show that his birthday is actually in December, so yes, I was over two months late with this.

Standing on his front porch, a young Jade stared down at a small box messily and hastily wrapped in blue paper and tied with a gold ribbon, which Peony had thrust into his hands only moments before.

"It's a present. Open it!" the blond boy said, grinning proudly.

Jade sighed and looked up. "As if I needed you to tell me. Okay, so it's a present. A present for what?"

"For your birthday, of course!" Peony replied, standing as proudly as possible. Hastily, he added, "Nephry told me." Jade looked back down at the box in his hands. It was the first time anyone outside of his family had ever given him a gift before.

Friend. Ever since they had first met, the young royal had kept saying that Jade and Nephry were his "friends." As he began to unwrap the present, Jade wondered if this was what "friend" meant. Inside the box, there was a small tin. As Peony urged him to open it, Jade took off the lid.

Pop! Confetti and ribbon burst out of the tin, landing on and all around Jade.

"Happy Birthday!" Peony shouted between laughs before turning and running off while waving goodbye. About as angry as a child can be, Jade threw down the box and the tin and turned to his front door to see Nephry standing in the doorway, barely able to conceal her giggling.

"Hmph, I don't understand him at all," he said, shaking his head. Sighing once again, he knelt down and began to pick up the confetti and ribbon now scattered on his porch. Nephry quickly knelt down as well to help.

When they were finished cleaning, brother and sister went back into their house. Nephry rushed off in the direction of her room, and Jade smiled, knowing what she was running off for. She came back holding a pair of gloves, handing them up to her brother, who took them, thanked her, and hugged her.

\------------------------

A few days earlier, Peony had been on one of his many ventures around Keterburg when he saw Nephry alone in the town square.

"Hey, Nephry."

"Oh, hey Peony." She sighed, a habit she seemed to have picked up from her brother. "My brother is just so boring sometimes."

"What do you mean?"

"His birthday's in a few days, so I asked him what he wanted, but all he said was, 'Oh, I don't know. I guess something useful like clothes or maybe pencils or paper would be good,'" Nephry recited in an imitation of Jade that made Peony laugh.

"Yeah, Jade would say something like that. But hey, you said his birthday is soon. When?"

"The 22nd day of Sylph Redecan," Nephry replied, proud that she had remembered.

"Hmm." Peony paused to carefully consider this. "I'm going to get him a present," he said, declaring his decision.

"Really?" Nephry said eagerly.

"Yes. I'm getting Jade a present for his birthday. Wow, this'll be fun! I've never gotten anyone a present before!" Now excited, Peony ran off to begin his preparations for Jade's gift.

\------------------------

Once again that day, Jade was on his doorstep, now sitting and reading a book about the seventh fonon which held his attention so greatly that he did not notice the second approach of Peony that day.

"Hey Jade!"

"What do you want?" Jade said to him, not looking up from his book, now doubly annoyed with the blond boy, not only because of his "present," but now also because he had distracted him from his reading.

"Y'know, Jade, you're way too serious. You act like an adult, and it's not cool at all. That's why I played that joke on you earlier today. I figured that you needed a joke like that." Since Jade was still looking at his book, Peony added, "If you're so angry about it, I guess I ought to apologize."

Slowly, Jade looked up at his "friend" and said, "Why are your hands behind your back?"

"Oh, this." He pulled another box from behind his back, wrapped more carefully, but still messily with the same kind of blue paper and gold ribbon. "Here, it's the real present I got you." He handed it to Jade. "Happy birthday." Wary of this second gift, Jade slowly and carefully began to unwrap it. Now just holding the box, he looked from the box to Peony as he opened the box and pulled out a pair of boots.

"So, do you like them?"

"I...guess."

"Good. I had to ask Nephry what your shoe size is. So, will you forgive me now for what I did earlier?"

"Hmm," Jade said before he set down his book and the boots and walked behind Peony. "No," he continued, allowing a stealthily made and quickly thrown snowball to punctuate his answer. "But now I will," he finished, smirking.

At first, Peony stared at Jade shocked. Then he laughed as he knelt down to make a snowball to throw back.


End file.
